


RGB, Or Colour Theory

by Leonawriter



Category: Pocket Monsters: Ruby & Sapphire & Emerald | Pokemon Ruby Sapphire Emerald Versions
Genre: Colors, Cross-Generational Friendship, Gen, Male-Female Friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-29
Updated: 2015-09-29
Packaged: 2018-04-23 21:59:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,259
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4893895
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leonawriter/pseuds/Leonawriter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Maxie thinks on colours as he sees them on the girl. Of course, he likes her best when she wears red.</p>
            </blockquote>





	RGB, Or Colour Theory

She had gone on her travels through the Hoenn region, ostensibly to attain all of the eight badges for entry to the League, although in practice it had ended up more like a journey from one of his or Archie's schemes to the other, stopping them as she went, and as she had done so she had worn blue.

Blue had suited her in an oblique sort of way, Maxie mused, although through all of it, the way that the hue brought out her eyes and made her appear somewhat more ladylike, turned her temper into ice, was for the most part lost to him due to his inherent dislike of the colour.

Archie had made sure of that. When he had betrayed Maxie's - his friend's, he had once thought, but no more - trust, and created his team with the colour at the front of it all.

Besides, when she wore blue it reminded him of the way she had looked down on him, eyes full of anger and rage, saying  _I can't understand you_ and  _listen to yourself_ and  _I hate you_ , and later on, perhaps worse still, pity.

When she had gone to awaken Rayquaza, she had arrived at the scene where the two ancient beasts had been warring not long before the great dragon had arrived to break apart their fight and prove to the leaders of both Team Aqua and Team Magma that their efforts, through all of their trials and tribulations, had all been in vain after all.

She had been wearing green, as if to match the dragon, to show that her allegiance ran with neither one team nor the other, and she would not stand for any more of this fighting any more than the dragon had. She had watched Rayquaza soar back up into the sky again, to return to where it had once called its home, or to roam to new skies, and then turned to them. Smiling. 

She had been happy, yes. And relieved. Maxie had to admit that she had not been the only one - he had been realising what massive mistakes he had made, that Archie had made, and he felt guilty for his relief, because he felt almost as though he had caused so much trouble (though not all of it - Archie deserved at least  _some_ of the credit) and he would be getting away without anything to show for it.

But then she had looked over at them, and he had felt as though that smile had said _'there, isn't it better when you aren't_ _fighting?' -_ just as though she were some schoolteacher, and he were a mere five years old again instead of thirty six.

It had chafed. Far more than he would care to admit. Being schooled like that by a sixteen year old! Young enough to be his child, not the other way around, so she had no right to treat him like that!

He hadn't expected to see her at Mt. Pyre. Indeed, as he and Archie, slowly repairing the fractured bond between them, gave over the care of the Orbs back to their rightful wardens, she had hung back. He had only noticed her presence by the fact that it was so silent up at the top of the mountain, a sense of peace permeating the place, the presence of another human instead of a Pokemon's spirit that much easier to tell apart. His focus had been on his task, and on being respectful.

He almost missed a step when he saw her - she'd grown, he could see that. Something, some indiscernible thing, had shifted. She seemed more adult than before.

It wasn't merely that, though.

The thought passed through among a many, many others, and was forced to wait. Wait until a better time. For now, he merely went back, attempted to look her in the eyes with the respect that was long overdue, tried and failed to find all of the right words.

An apology, perhaps. Or perhaps he wanted to say that he was grateful for all that she had done. Or to tell her of the things that he and his team had been attempting to do in order to move forward.

None of it came out, though, all stalling at the point just before speaking. Only letting her name pass his lips, and then he knew - perhaps that was enough, and she would understand, and if it was not, then he could not let out all of his feelings here. Not now. Not yet.

They were allowed to keep the base, on the condition that they maintained it as a natural habitat and did nothing further to disrupt the delicate balance of things - or attempt to awaken any further ancient Pokemon. There had been no arguments  _there_.

For the most part, they were left alone. Not many other than League officials and lost, wandering trainers found their way in. But of course, that meant that sooner or later, something was bound to happen.

It was a warm day in early spring, about a year after everything had happened, but too soon for the memories to have fully faded, especially when they still saw the places and equipment that had been so instrumental at the time every day, every single day.

When she came in through the cave entrance, the grunts standing guard immediately assumed that she was there to raid the base, like she had done before, memories becoming horrendous flashbacks for more than a few, for the sound beatings she had given them all. 

The Pokemon she had sent out had just stood there, happy just to take hit after hit, unaffected by anything they threw at it as she explained that she just wanted to talk. That was all right, wasn't it? To talk.

Things had calmed down after that, with no hard feelings and a bit of laughter shared over the silliness of the situation, hindsight being twenty-twenty and much less serious when looked back on. She had asked the individual grunts how they were doing, listened, smiled. Inquired of Courtney how well she was going with the contests nowadays, if she'd reached Master rank yet. Maxie wondered how the girl knew so much, but instead shook his head, and when he looked at her, a thought from both long ago and not long at all brushed against the fore of his mind as they talked of double battles, and the possibility of friendly rematches some day.

"You know," he found himself saying, "I much prefer you in red."

May's eyebrows had shot up. 

"What, because it almost looks like I fit in here? I didn't do  _that_ on purpose, I can tell you now. So no getting a big ego over it,  _oh great Maxie_."

He'd shook his head, amused.

"No," he'd said slowly, "although now that you say so..." His mouth twitched at the way she rolled her eyes, before he went back to his original point. "I merely meant to say that the colour suits you. That is all."

May apparently didn't know what to say to that, and so she focused her attention elsewhere.

What he didn't say was that when she wore red, it made him think of new beginnings, of the chance that mistakes could be overcome, of reparations and something less like pity, and more like compassion. Perhaps, even, the compassion of a friend.

If blue was for cold anger and green was for calm detachment, then red was for warmth - and maybe even belonging.


End file.
